While the Olympic Games were taking place in Paris, Ibrahima Wade, General Coordinator of the Dakar 2026 Organising Committee, and his team took the opportunity to learn in preparation for the event they will be hosting in Africa in two years' time.

In an interview with the Olympic website, Wade revealed how he and his team have been able to learn during Paris 2024 and how this is influencing their preparations for the YOG in the Senegalese capital.

The importance of attending Paris was "very important. Obviously, we were able to attend a lot of meetings with the IOC and senior members of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, but the most important thing for us was the Observer Programme. Our team had the opportunity to see what was happening on the ground and how they could be ready for Dakar 2026. We gained a lot of knowledge from our experience here."

The significance of Paris 2024 lay in the way the Games were planned and the precision with which they were planned. "We had the opportunity to discuss with them how we could speed up our own planning. And of course, when we return to Dakar in the coming days, we will accelerate the process of delivering the Games by finalising all our plans," said Wade.

In terms of the specific knowledge gained by Wade and his team, the General Coordinator appreciated that their stay in Paris enabled them to gain key insights, such as the mobilisation process. Despite the significant differences (the Youth Games involve athletes aged between 14 and 18 and are naturally much smaller in scale), they were able to gain experience that they will be able to apply in Dakar and plan with greater precision.

In terms of priorities, the 55-year-old former athlete said there were three main areas to focus on. The renovation of the venues and monitoring to ensure that the December 2025 delivery date is met so that the test events can begin.

In the interview conducted by Olympics, he also emphasised the need to strengthen the recruitment process in order to recruit more people and train them to fulfil their roles, as well as the lessons learned in Paris in terms of mobilising not only the youth but the entire population within the country and other African countries.

About the mobilisation in Dakar, the 2002 European bronze medallist for France said: "We have launched several programmes. The main one is the Dakar en Jeux festival. We decided to start as early as possible and that's why we organised the first edition in 2022 and the second in 2023. The next one will be in November and will be even bigger. We will invite other African countries to join us."

Wade also highlighted other programmes such as the Brevet Olympique, Civique et Sportif (Olympic, Civic and Sport Certificate), which teaches Olympic values in schools across the country, and the Kids' Olympic Skills programme, which focuses on developing sport at grassroots level.

Speaking about the goals and legacy expected after the fourth Youth Olympic Games in history, Wade said they are focusing on three key aspects that they are monitoring to ensure a real impact, not only for Senegal, but for the whole of Africa.

"We have been working closely with the IOC on how to put legacy at the heart of the Games' philosophy. We already have our sustainability, impact and legacy plan, which focuses on three aspects. The first is the social aspect, looking at how the Games can strengthen human rights and protect the social rights of all the people involved in the process," said Wade.

"The second is environmental sustainability. We have put it at the heart of our activities and we are working with national stakeholders responsible for these issues, such as the Minister of the Environment and public and private bodies, to strengthen the culture of environmental protection in the country, not only for the Games but also before and after the Games," added the former 4x400m specialist.

"And finally, the economic aspect; how to ensure that these Games have a positive impact on the local private sector. Senegal has a lot of small and medium-sized enterprises, so we are looking at how we can make them part of the Games," said the man who will have the honour of bringing the first Summer Olympics to Africa.

On the same subject, he mentioned that the YOG motto, "Africa Welcomes, Dakar Celebrates", is important because it will be the first time that the Youth Olympic Games will be held in Africa, to show that it is not just a Games for Dakar, but a Games for the world, and that the whole of Africa is involved.